ch 1 & 2

-Because wording is such a delicate matter, critical thinkers will reflect on how the phrasing of a question might affect people's expressed opinions -The best basis for generalizing is from a representative sample of cases

Problem with surveys 1

1. effectively organizes a range of self-reports and observations 2. Implies clear predictions that anyone can use to check the theory or to derive practical applications

Theory will be useful if it 1.) ____ and 2.) ____

critical thinking

Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumption, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidences, and assesses conclusions (smart thinking; fully examining a problem)

biopsychosocial approach

Together, different levels of analysis form an integrated ____

manipulates a factor to determine its effect

Unlike correlational studies, which uncover naturally occurring relationships, an experiment ____

curiosity, being skeptical (but not cynical; open but not gullible), and humility (an awareness of our own vulnerability to error and an openness to surprises and new perspectives)

What are three main components of the scientific attitude?

Nature-nurture issue

What is psychology's historic big issue?

1. Representative samples are better than biased samples. 2. Less-variable observations are more reliable than those that are more variable. 3. More cases are better than fewer.

What principles can guide our making generalizations from samples and deciding whether differences are significant?

When averages from two samples are each reliable measures of their respective populations (as when each is based on many observations that have small variability), then their difference is likely to be reliable as well.

When is a difference significant?

hindsight bias and judgmental overconfidence

Why can we not simply rely solely on intuition and common sense?

Max Wertheimer

a Gestalt psychologist; argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures. Instead, examined a person's total experience.

psychiatry

a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who often provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy

structuralism

a branch of psychology that focuses on how the mind is structured by having people report on how they react (introspection--looking inward)

Mary Calkins

a female student of James, studying memory, who completed her doctoral work at Harvard but was denied a Ph.D from the University because of her gender, later went on to become the first female president of the APA.

scatterplot

a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation (little scatter indicates high correlation)

correlation

a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other

experiment

a research method in which an investigator manipulates one of more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experiment controls other relevant factors (effect of independent variable on dependent variable)

random sample

a sample that fairly represents a population because the entire group has an equal chance of participating

functionalism

a school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function--how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish

survey

a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group --looks at many cases in depth --when wanting to estimate, from a representative sample of people, the attitudes or reported behaviors of a whole population

hypothesis

a testable prediction, often implied by a theory

population

all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples can be drawn

manipulate an independent variable, measure the dependent variable, and control confounding variables

an experiment aims to...

double-blind procedure

an experimental procedure in which both the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or placebo (like in drug evaluation studies)

theory

an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

mean

arithmetic average

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

James Watson

believed in behaviorism, and thought that the focus should be on what people do instead of what they experience, because behavior can be measured objectively by anybody

Augustine

believed the body and the mind were interconnected and theorized on how the condition of the body influences the mind and vice versa.

normal curve

bell-shaped distribution

psychodynamic psychology How does behavior spring from unconscious drives and conflicts?

branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that info to treat people with psychological disorders

clinical psychology

branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

William James

considered the evolved functions of our thoughts and feelings; functionalist (encouraged explorations of down-to-earth emotions, memories, willpower, habits, and moment-to-moment streams of consciousness); taught Calkins, who outscored all the men on the qualifying exams

biopsychosocial approach

considers the influences of biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

Helps us predict. It indicates the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but it does not prove causation. Knowing the two events are associated need not tell us anything about correlation.

correlation...

range

difference between lowest and highest scores

humanistic psychology

emphasized the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential, and the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied we choose most of our behaviors and these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs

Gestalt Psychology

emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts, tried to examine a person's total experience rather that divide human thoughts and behavior

placebo effect

experimental results caused by expectations alone

confounding variable

factor (other than the independent variable) that might produce an effect in an experiment

independent variable

factor being manipulated

Sigmund Freud

founder of Psychoanalysis, proposed that dream images are disguised and symbolic expressions of unconscious wishes and urges

counseling psychology

help people to cope with challenges and crises and to improve their personal and social functioning

standard deviation

how much scores vary around the mean score

variation

how similar or diverse the scores are

Abraham Maslow

humanistic psychologist who developed a theory of motivation that emphasized psychological growth

Carl Rogers

humanistic psychology who founded client-centered therapy

experimental group

in an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable

control group

in an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment (similar in age, gender. fatigue levels, etc...)

behaviorism

objective science that studies behavior without references to mental processes

introspection

observation or examination of one's own mental and emotional state, mental processes

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

surveys and naturalistic observations

often show us that one behavior is related to another

dependent variable

outcome factor; variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base (questions and hypotheses)

replication

repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.

developmental psychology

scientific study of our traits and abilities over time (from womb to tomb)

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

natural selection

selects the traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment

Wilhelm Wundt

set up first psychological laboratory, father of modern psych sought to measure "atoms of the mind," psychology's first experiment with timing people's awareness of the sound of a bouncing ball introspection

central tendency

single score that represents a whole set of scores

correlation coefficient

statistical index that helps measure how closely two things vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other (reveals the extent to which two things correlate)

Edward Bradford Titchener

student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology; introduced structuralism; aimed to discover the structure of the mind; engaged with self-reflective introspection (immediate sensations and feelings)

biological psychology How does the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences? How do genes combine with the environment to influence individual differences?

studies the links between biological and psychological processes study of how heredity and experience influences our individual differences in temperament

human factors psychology

study how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments

Humanistic perspective

study of how emotions affect a person's potential for growth and personal fulfillment

educational psychology

study of how psychological processes can affect learning and teaching

social psychology

study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

personality psychology

study of individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

psychometrics

study of the measurement of our abilities, attitudes, and traits

evolutionary psychology How does the natural selection of traits promote the survival of genes?

study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection

levels of analysis

the differing complementary views, from biological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon

mode

the frequently occurring score or scores

median

the midpoint

psychology

the science of behavior and mental processes

cognitive psychology How do we encode, process, store, and retrieve information?

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

behavioral psychology How we learn from observable responses?

the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning

experimental psychology

the study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method

cognitive neuroscience

the study of brain activity linked with mental activity (linked with the acquiring and processing of info)

social-culture psychology How does behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?

the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it (also known as I-knew-it-all-along)

empiricism

the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science, therefore, relies on observation and experimentation

aristotle and locke

think our human traits develop through experience

plato and descartes

think we are born with our human traits

Industrial-organizational psychologists

use psychology's concepts and methods in the workplace to help organizations and companies select and train employees, boost morale and productivity, design products, and implement systems

overconfidence

we tend to think we know more than we do

perceiving order in random events

what are illusory correlations?

illusory correlation

when we notice random coincidences, we may forget that they are random and instead see them as correlated. Thus, we can easily deceive ourselves by seeing what is not there

Women, such as Calkins and Washburn, were excluded from getting college degrees at Harvard. Washburn's gender meant she was barred from joining the organization of experimental psychologists (who explore behavior and thinking with experiments).

women...

naturalistic observations

-does not explain behavior but describes it, but the descriptions can be revealing -also illuminate human behavior

humanistic psychology

-rebelled against Freudian psychology and behaviorism. -emphasized the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential, and the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied

illusory correlation

A perceived but nonexistent correlation. When we believe there is a relationship between two things, we are likely to notice and recall instances that confirm our beliefs --occur when we over-rely, ignoring equally essential information --ex: believing that changes in the weather trigger arthritis pain

Margaret Floy Washburn

American psychologist who was the first woman to earn a doctorate in psychology in the United States; published research on mental processes in animals, second female president of the APA, denied membership into the Organization of Experiment Psychologists because of her gender.

case study

An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing things true to us all (universal principles). --They often suggests directions for further study, and they show us what can happen. But individual cases can suggest fruitful ideas. To discern the general truths that cover individual cases, we must answer questions with other research methods

Nature-nurture issue

Controversy over relative contributions of biology and experience; Do our human traits develop through experience, or are we born with them?

operational definition

Describe concepts with precise procedures or measurements; a statement of procedures (operations) used to define research variables. (ex: memory may be defined as "number of words correctly recalled from a list")

1. Manipulating factors of interest 2. Holding constant ("controlling") other factors

Experiments enable a researcher to focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by:

-During the 1920s, "the science of mental life"--introspection -From the 1920s into the 1960s, introspection was dismissed, and psychology was redefined as "the scientific study of observable behavior." --behaviorism -During the 1960s and beyond, humanistic psychology rebelled against Freudian psychology and behaviorism. --humanistic psychology-- Cognitive revolution => cognitive neuroscience

How did psychology continue to develop from the 1920s through today?

With the scientific method. Psychological science evaluates competing ideas with careful observation and rigorous analysis.

How do psychologists ask and answer questions?

case study, survey, and naturalistic observation

How do psychologists observe and describe behavior?